5 Links to Consider | August 7, 2024

A round-up of this week's compelling and considered clicks, compiled from The Absolute Sound's veteran staff of experts and reviewers.

1. Has pop music got less melodic? I’ve immersed myself in 70 years of hits – this is what I’ve found

   In a study published in July, researchers from London’s Queen Mary University algorithmically studied the melodies of decades’ worth of US Billboard chart hits, and came to the conclusion that the melodies driving those songs have grown less complex over the years. The existence of this kind of study can serve to bolster certain bar-room conversations. If you’re convinced, for instance, that the music of your own youth is superior to whatever’s being made these days, then you can now cite a scientific paper to claim that today’s hits are just dumbed-down slop…

   I’m not so sure.

‘While I’m not a scientist, I don’t see a lot of anecdotal evidence that pop hits are becoming any simpler.’ Taylor Swift in Munich, 27 July